FIREFOX SETS FIRE

At long last, Spain-based
Geeksphone has started
selling its Firefox OS
smartphones, the Keon and
the Peak. Pricing for the Keon
is $119; the higher-end Peak
is priced at $194. At the time
of writing, the Geeksphone
website was suffering a high
volume of traffic, though it
was still possible to go
through the checkout
process.
Firefox OS is an HTML5-
centric platform designed to
deliver software as Web apps,
and Mozilla is pitching the OS
as a superior alternative for
low-end smartphones in
developing markets. Mozilla
partnered with Telefónica and
Geeksphone to launch the
now-available developer
smartphones, the Keon and
the Peak.
Geeksphone bills the $119
Keon as "a light and versatile,
but also powerful developer
preview device which has all
the hardware features you
need to start developing
software for Firefox OS in a
performant environment" as
well as "a great companion
for your daily tasks."
The Keon's specs are as
follows:
1GHz Qualcomm
Snapdragon CPU;
a 3.5-inch HVGA
multitouch screen;
a 3-megapixel camera;
4GB of ROM and 512MB
of RAM; and
MicroSD, Wi-Fi N,
Bluetooth 2.1 EDR, Radio
FM, GPS support, and
MicroUSB.
The $194 Peak, meanwhile, is
a "powerful developer
preview device introducing
cutting-edge features, like a
4.3-inch qHD screen,"
according to Geeksphone.
Its features include:
1.2GHz x2 Qualcomm
Snapdragon CPU;
A 4.3-inch qHD IPS
multitouch screen;
an 8-megapixal camera in
the back and a 2-
megapixel camera in the
front;
4GB of ROM and 512MB
of RAM; and
MicroSD, Wi-Fi N,
Bluetooth 2.1 EDR, Radio
FM and GPS, and a
MicroUSB.
Mozilla has already
announced the creation of
the Firefox Marketplace, from
which users will be able to
snag apps for games, news
and media, business, and
productivity. According to
Mozilla, "these apps are tied
to you and your online
identity to take across devices
and platforms."
According to Mozilla, the
Firefox Marketplace will
include such apps as
AccuWeather, Airbnb, Box,
Facebook, Nokia HERE, Pulse
News, SoundCloud, SporTV,
Terra, Time Out, and Twitter.
Mozilla has made available a
host of tools for developers
seeking to contribute to the
Firefox Marketplace, including
a Firefox OS Simulator that
shows how apps will appear
when running on Firefox OS.
The platform gives Web
developers a mobile
environment dedicated to
apps created with just HTML,
CSS, and JavaScript. There are
two types of Firefox OS apps:
packaged and hosted. Packed
apps are essentially zip files
containing all of an app's
assets: HTML, CSS, JavaScript,
images, manifest, and so on.
Hosted apps are run from a
server at a given domain,
similar to a standard website.